Denver’s first kidnapping for ransom happened in 1932. On the evening of January 19, two men holding two women at gunpoint, forced their way into Benjamin P. Bower’s home when Bower answered a knock at his door. Bower, 62, manager of the Campbell-Sell Bakery Company, was not alone in the house. His wife and two guests were also present.

Waving their guns, the men ordered everyone, including the two women who arrived at gunpoint, to lie on the floor. The women had been held up for their car near Colfax Ave. and Grant St. and told to drive to the Bower home.

The kidnappers phoned Bower’s employer, Stephen Knight, a millionaire in the flour milling business. They then yanked the phone cord out of the wall and hustled Mr. Bower out the door. As they left, they ground out threats and orders, promising to kill Bower if they didn’t receive the ransom. “You, Mrs. Bower, raise $50,000 in cash. Get it from old man Knight.”

The men taped Bower’s eyes as they drove away in the stolen car. They later abandoned the car for a vehicle driven by another accomplice.

[media-credit name=”Denver Post File Photo” align=”aligncenter” width=”495″][/media-credit] Kidnappers abandon the car in which they abducted Benjamin P. Bower. Charles J. Hahn, Jr., a St. Louis fingerprint expert, who was in Denver to attend a convention of Colorado sheriffs, is shown examining the car for telltale prints. January 1932

Bower was held captive for four days in a shack at 5625 W. 6th Ave. During that time, he was forced by the gang members to write letters to his wife begging her to get the ransom money.

The kidnappers never received the money. Mrs. Bower was unable to raise it. All of the property and accounts were in her husband’s name, which she couldn’t access. After several days she was able to talk a bank into loaning her $25,000, half the amount. Unable to contact the kidnappers about the difficulties she was having, she was forced to communicate through newspaper stories.

On the morning of the fourth day, she received another ransom note. This note said she should give the money to “the best known bootlegger or gangster in Denver.” The police suspected this was an attempt to draw suspicion away from the real kidnappers, but they also realized, real or not, the note could be used to enlist help.

The police had already questioned many of the gangsters and racketeers in north Denver about Bower. But after receiving the letter, they called in Joe Roma, a Denver crime boss, and used a little leverage.

They produced the ransom letter and told Roma it made him look very guilty because he was such a well-known bootlegger. They insisted it would be in his best interest to use his contacts to find and safely return Mr. Bower. “If I release the contents of this letter,” the police chief said, “there is likely to be so much public indignation that there will be a necktie party.” They used the same tactic with the Smaldone family and several other crime leaders.

While all this was going on, the kidnap gang grew increasingly jumpy. There was extensive front page news coverage, the police were diligently searching for them, it now looked as if Denver’s underworld was in on the search and they still hadn’t received their money.

By the end of the fourth day, the gang wanted out. Bower was driven to W. 13th Ave. and Quivas St. and released in the early morning hours of January 24. From there Bower made his way to police headquarters where he gave details of the kidnapping.

Even with Bower safe, the police continued looking for the kidnappers. With information supplied by the girlfriend of the gang leader, Joseph C. Riley, the police were able to track him down to a rooming house at 2810 Arapahoe St. When they surrounded the building, Riley shot and killed himself.

This lead to the next clue. After reading about Riley’s suicide, the owner of the shack where Bower had been held was overheard bragging that he had rented the shack to Riley. This was reported to the police. After questioning the landlord and searching the shack, the police were able to identify and arrest the remainder of the gang. Joe Pannell, a former prize fighter; George W. Reed, a barber; and A.M. Taylor Sr., a bootlegger were all convicted and given the maximum sentence of seven years for the kidnapping.

[media-credit name=”Denver Post File Photo” align=”aligncenter” width=”495″][/media-credit] Benjamin Bower posed for Post photographers at the shack where he was held captive for four days. January 28, 1932

[media-credit name=”Denver Post File Photo” align=”aligncenter” width=”495″][/media-credit] “This is where I spent my time,” said Bower, as he got into the bed at the shack to pose for the Post photographers. The bed, Bower said, would have been comfortable under other circumstances. it had two mattresses. January 28, 1932